Monday, July 5, 2010

A Saturday afternoon walk at our local harbour beach in Auckland. T-shirts, ice-cream, climbing, jumping, running and Dad with the camera.

Seventeen degrees and sunny on the the 3rd of July... I just thought I should confess that despite my whining about the rain it really is rather warm most of the time in Auckland and sometimes even quite dry and bright! Just not a great deal from about May to December.

I no longer look at the weather forecast - it's such a topic of conversation that someone will always tell me what's in store. And I think it must be mostly guesswork for the poor forecasters.

Auckland, for those of you who don't know, is on New Zealand's north island. It's quite close to the top of the island and straddles a narrow neck of land. Without a large land mass on either side, living here is rather like living on the deck of an ocean liner.

The weather is 'everywhere' (as I once heard on an Arican weather forecast)... squally showers sometimes blow across four or five times in an hour. And it can be bright, clear blue sky in between. Or like today, so much rain you can't quite imagine the sun ever coming out again.

I have given up on my want for a washing line. Pointless. Instead I play washing roulette ducking outside with the washing frame and then dashing back to rescue it from the next downpour. I've also bought a decent rain jacket and never go to school without wet weather gear for all. Well actually I have quite a few times and got terribly wet. But I'm learning.

Last night we barbequed in the pouring rain. In the true Australian way, Mum did the salads (roast vegies as it is July) and Dad did the meat, umbrella in hand.

2 comments:

This made me smile. I was just yesterday telling my daughter that in NZ we really know how to appreciate a sunny day, whereas here on the Gold Coast we think it's our right to have sunshine everyday and feel 'put-out' if the skies dear to cloud over.I have the fondest memories of riding my bike home from school in the pouring rain, putting my shoes in the hot-water cupboard to dry and Mum having a hot milo waiting for me...bliss.Angex

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'A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.'

Virginia Woolf, 1929

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Reading...

What I've just read...

A book club choice but I recommend. It's set in Perth during the post war polio outbreak. I like her writing (others do too - she won a few awards) and it prompted me to read much more about the polio outbreak.

What I'm reading...

The Golden Age - Joan London

The Secret Place - Tana French

I've read all her books this summer and this is the last - a new to me crime writer. She's Irish and it's not the usual gritty tortured detective noir.

What I'm reading next...

Commonwealth by Ann Pratchett, by next Wednesday for bookclub... I like to live on the edge and will probably start it on Monday.